Together with Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., LTD, Huawei has comprehensively analyzed the metro network operational communication bearer and backbone communication, and also shared the planning and project best practice, for the Shanghai Rail Transit Information Network.

Additionally is has also officially released the world’s first commercial case in the field of urban rail oriented Optical Transmission Network (OTN) powered high-speed bearer networks.

After more than 20 years of rapid development, Shanghai Metro operates 16 metro lines and one maglev line, with a total length of 673 km. It also controls 395 stations and is recognized as the metro operator with the largest metro network. With the increase in the scale of construction in recent years, Shanghai rail transport has gradually entered a new stage of network development characterized by rail network planning, construction, and operations. As a result, in 2016, Shanghai Metro began to optimize the upper-layer networks of its existing Comprehensive Operation Coordination Center (COCC).

Shanghai Metro’s upper-layer communication networks faced many difficulties, for example:
•Shanghai Metro has many different types of services and requires high bandwidth. Nearly 30 types of communication services exist between each line of Shentong’s Operations Control Center (OCC) and its COCC, such as the dedicated wireless systems, Automatic Train Supervision (ATS), Automatic Fare Collection (AFC), Passenger Information System (PIS), Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) and Office Automation (OA) systems. Additionally, providing sufficient speeds for subsequent Big Data strategies requires large bandwidth expansion.
•Shanghai Metro’s services are isolated and independent of each other. Its OTN powered high-speed bearer network business contains business units like operations management, dispatching, and driving guarantee which demands various levels of security respectively. Therefore, physical isolation must be implemented between different business units to meet high security and reliability requirements.
•Shanghai Metro’s large-scale network requires high availability. The entire urban rail cloud consists of the transmission platform, data operation execution networks, data operation management networks and low-speed data service networks. The network design’s unprecedented scale covers all OCC nodes in Shanghai. As the entire network’s cornerstone, the transmission network needs to be highly reliable and ensure timely switchovers to run services continuously in case of faults.

Based on the detailed mainstream technology comparisons and rigorous demonstrations, Shanghai Metro finally chose Huawei’s advanced OTN solution to build its upper-layer communication transmission network, which was implemented and put into commercial use in 2018.
1.The system capacity has been easily upgraded to the terabit level to meet service volume expansion requirements for the next 5 to 10 years.
2.Wavelength + ODUK + VC are three physical isolation solutions that ensure service transmission security and provide end-to-end bandwidth guarantees suitable for important service transmissions like ATS.
3.The network not only supports equipment and network-level protection, but also smoothly upgrades to an ASON network to further improve service reliability.

Liu Chunjie, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., Ltd, said, “Huawei has been participating in the construction of the high-speed bearer network in Shanghai Metro Lines 14, 15, and 18, indicating their industry expertise and comprehensive strength. We expect Huawei to be a leader in the next round of rail transportation construction.”

Director of Huawei Transportation Solution Unit, Frédéric Comtet, said, “As the global rail industry ushers in big data and cloud computing, Huawei takes the lead in proposing a new generation of urban rail oriented OTN powered high-speed bearer network architecture. We are grateful to Shentong for its continuous pursuit of the railway communication architecture and technology. We are able to realize the first commercial use of the OTN technology in the global urban rail industry.”

Yuan Xilin, Vice President of Industry Solution Dept, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said, “The world’s first commercial case of urban rail oriented OTN powered high-speed bearer network is also a marker for the rail transport networks in major international cities such as Shanghai, which is developing rapidly in the direction of cloud computing, Big Data, and intelligence. Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to provide customers with leading optical transmission network solutions, continuously innovate technologies based on customer requirements, and work with partners in the industry to promote network cloudification and digital transformation.”

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